Florida shootout leaves deputy, gunman dead

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(AP/Yahoo News)

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man set his house on fire and then fatally shot a sheriff's deputy and wounded another Saturday when they responded to the scene, before he was shot to death by other law enforcement officers, officials said.

Lt. James McQuaig of the Leon County Sheriff's Office said deputies and firefighters responded to the blaze about 10:15 a.m. As the first deputy approached the house, he was fatally shot. The gunman picked up the deputy's gun, walked down the street and used it to shoot a second deputy before he was fatally shot by other law enforcement officers, McQuaig said.

The gunman was killed by a Tallahassee police officer who lived nearby, heard the shooting, threw on his bullet-resistant vest, grabbed his gun and ran toward the house, a government official said.

The wounded deputy was saved by his vest and his injuries are not believed to be serious, the official said.

The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to release the information.

The names of the killed and wounded deputies nor the gunman have not been released. The fire has been extinguished.

The gray and white house sits on a corner in a middle-class neighborhood just outside the Tallahassee city limits. Property records show it was purchased in 2012 for $128,000. Crime scene investigators could be seen going in and out of the house.

The shooting near Florida's capital comes just two days after a police shootout at Florida State University left a gunman dead after he wounded two students and an employee.

This version corrects that the Florida State University gunman shot two students and an employee, not three students.